Keeping It Green

— AND YOUR OWN HEALTH

Leave Your Car at Home (Every time you drive solo in an SUV, you’re adding more than 1.5 pounds of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases to the environment with each mile. Change your driving habits and you make an immediate impact on the environment. Take short trips on foot or by bike instead, and you’ll also make an immediate impact on your health.)

Think Reusable When You Drink (Buy an environmentally friendly reusable stainless-steel canteen-like bottle for carrying your water around.)

Slip Into Something a Little More Healthy (Look online for specialty stores in your area that sell clothes made fabrics produced using the least amount of harsh chemicals, like hemp, organic cotton, wool, or silk.)

Choose Locally Grown or Organic Food (Fruits and vegetables are often shipped hundreds of miles or more from other states or countries before they reach your supermarket, which means they may have been picked weeks before you eat them.)

Clean Up Your Water and the Environment (According to Consumer Reports, you can find a variety of water filters that remove common contaminants. Trask recommends Brita water-filtering pitchers because the company recycles used filters, preventing them from ending up in landfills.)

Do Some Old-School Cleaning (“We can clean quite effectively with products our grandparents used. White vinegar or natural castile soap can be mixed with salt and baking soda to cut through mold or soap scum, and natural products like washing soda and borax can be used to clean floors and remove grease stains. One part vinegar and one part water in a spray bottle makes a glass cleaner, shower cleaner, floor cleaner, and toilet cleaner.”)

Make the World a Greener Place (Plant a tree (or a few!) in your yard as a family project. According to the Arbor Day Foundation, the long list of health- and environment-improving benefits of having trees around include reducing your air-conditioning costs by providing shade; possibly raising the property value and resale appeal of your home; pulling carbon dioxide out of the environment and creating oxygen; improved water quality; and providing you with calming surroundings.)

Go Organic: Grow Your Own Food! (You’ll be sustaining yourself with food that didn’t require fossil fuels for transportation. You’ll have the peace of mind of knowing that pesticides weren’t used on your vegetables. And you’ll get months of exercise as you prepare the ground, plant the seeds, tend to your crops, and pick the food yourself.)

Everydayhealth.com By Eric Metcalf, MPH

ANNUAL E-WASTE EVENT: Still up in the air. Watch for updates!

LOCAL RECYCLING INCLUDES:

Clean, flattened corrugated cardboard (DOES NOT include chipboard such as cereal boxes, toilet paper rolls, etc.)

Aluminum Cans

All metal

Vehicle Batteries

Used Oil